In advertising and marketing, it may be desirable to target advertisements to the appropriate potential customer base, rather than to broadcast advertisements in general. For example, it may be ineffective for advertisements for computers to appear in gardening magazines, and advertisements for gardening tools may not be effective in computer magazines.
Targeted advertising has also made its presence in broadcast television environments. For example, attempts have been made to match the television advertisements to users. One known system uses geographic information to attempt to segment consumer lifestyles into identifiable characteristics. In such a lifestyle segmentation system, a database may correlate geography (e.g., zip code) versus predetermined empirical demographic profiles (e.g., household income, age, etc.).
Implementation of interactive television services, such as digital cable and satellite television services which may feature on-demand content, has permitted advertisers to explore new methods for providing targeted advertisements to consumers. For example, consumer viewing habits and choices may be monitored to establish viewing preferences and purchasing habits. More particularly, click-stream data (based on channel selection entries via a remote control) may be used to monitor tune-in behavior, how much time was spent viewing a particular advertisement, and/or what action was taken after the advertisement was viewed. Such information may be used to tailor advertising of particular products and/or services to individual consumers. However, although conventional advertising systems may be able to monitor consumer viewing habits associated with a particular account and/or location, they may not be able to determine to whom (of the one or more individuals associated with the account) the monitored viewing habits belong. In other words, although present targeted advertising systems may be able to determine that a particular program is being watched by someone associated with a particular account, they may be unable to determine any other demographic information about the current viewer. As such, the targeted advertising may not be as effective.